Nov. 06--It's been more than a year since SushiSamba Rio served its last tropical-tini; finally, a new restaurant is up and running in the 10,000-square-foot Wells Street space. Meet Bottled Blonde, a Scottsdale, Ariz., transplant dishing out pizza, pasta and beer.
"You won't recognize the place," owner Les Corieri says of the remodel. "We started from scratch." Now, 14-foot glass garage doors enclose "a really warm environment, with wooden floors and brick walls," Corieri says.
On the full menu, expect medium-crust brick-oven pizzas, house-made pasta and other Italian-inspired dishes, plus salads for the lunch crowd. A late-night pizza-only menu is served 10 p.m. until close (2 a.m.; 3 a.m. Saturdays); Bottled Brunch (weekends 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) includes Elvis crepes with bananas and peanut butter cream, brioche toast topped with egg, ricotta salata, arugula and speck, and build-your-own burritos.
"Chicago's a pretty intense food city, so we wanted to ramp up the menu from what we offer at Scottsdale," chef Jared Porter says. "We're doing arancini, a crispy risotto ball stuffed with saffron, Provolone and French peas. We also have cauliflower gratinata, which is a cheesy casserole made with aged white cheddar and roasted cauliflower. Hearty, warming. A cool play off of a French dip will be served with a Parmesan broth, so it's kind of a soup and sandwich in one."
House favorites among the nine pizzas include the pepperoni with red sauce, ricotta and basil; the Roman, topped with potatoes, pancetta, scallions and a fried egg; and BB's take on a Margherita, with fresh tomatoes, confit garlic and burrata, Porter says.
Of nearly two dozen beers on tap, more than half are local, including Half Acre's Daisy Cutter and Revolution's Anti-Hero; a full bar features a menu of riffs on the Moscow mule, among other cocktails, and a wine list by the glass and bottle. Drink to the backdrop of 50 HDTVs and two 30-foot projection screens that show sports during the day and early evening, then transition to a technology called video mapping, which layers images on the screen, paired with music from a DJ.
Will this Bottled Blonde gain a reputation similar to that of the Scottsdale branch, which is known for being a bit rowdy? Only time will tell. But: "We're not a nightclub, not pretentious," Corieri says. "It's come as you are." 504 N. Wells St., bottledblondechi.com.
mconrad@tribpub.com
